Neighborhood hero helps San Mateo Police catch serial package thief

Neighbors in San Mateo are celebrating this week, as a serial package thief has been caught at the hands of one of their own.

Coy has lived in his Nextdoor North Central neighborhood for several years and has always felt safe. But over the recent New Years break, his opinion changed when he and his wife found out that they had been hit by a package thief.

Lucky for Coy, he caught the culprit on camera stealing packages containing toys for Coy’s 3-month old son. Feeling protective of his son, Coy made it his mission to catch the thief and put him behind bars.

Coy posted to his neighborhood’s Nextdoor website and shared the surveillance footage asking whether anyone in the neighborhood recognized the man. As it turned out, several did and Coy soon found out he was dealing with a serial package thief. Coy provided this information to police, and promised that he’d do all he could to help the police find the man.

Exactly a week after the thief had first struck Coy’s home, Coy was working in his home office when he recognized a familiar face walking down his street. Sure enough, the thief was back, likely on the search for more packages to steal. Coy called police and jumped in his car to trail the man, and within minutes the police arrived and arrested the man on several charges of package theft.

The police were able to recover several of the packages that had been stolen in the neighborhood, and returned these items to their rightful owners. Coy and the PD shared the good news of the arrest with neighbors on Nextdoor, who commented and thanked them for their teamwork. Coy’s post alone collected over 261 ‘Thanks’ and 68 ‘Replies’ from grateful neighbors who are celebrating him as the neighborhood hero.